dress design progress pt. 4

Its 5:30am and I'm just now getting ready to go to bed.  I went to work on this dress at about 9pm and am just now finishing up.  I'm not sure if my neighbors could hear it but I was blasting Guns N Roses on Pandora almost all night, it really got me pumped up. At one point the dress was completely disassembled and there were pieces all around my office.  I gave myself a little bit of a fresh start by doing that. I think I spent about 2 hours making ruffles for the shoulder.  A big inspiration for me to make the shoulder like this was Alexander McQueen's RTW fall 2012 collection. Sarah Burton made some really amazingly textured pieces.

The silhouette is as classic as it gets but I might end up wearing it without the petty coat underneath for the day of the fashion show.

dress design progress pt. 3

OMG! So last night I was so stressed out about this dress my hands were shaking as I was ripping some seams to remove the pink skirt on my dress.

The black fabric underneath it had the same shine and I almost lost my mind stressing out about it!

This is what it looks like now :( I hate it but I just have to step away from it because its driving me crazy

I ended up starting a different "back up" dress. Something simple that resembles my original sketches.

I swear to you guys this was totally unforeseen drama with the SHINE!

its like in my office I don't see this much shine till I go and take a picture then I just look at the pic and want to die!

Today and tomorrow I will be concentrating on finishing both of them up then figuring out which one comes out better......to finish 2 dresses up by Friday is probably more stressful than doing 1 dress but I think I'm up for the task and I rather give myself options than be forced to wear 1 dress that I am having so many issues with.

Because I bit off my acrylic nails from the stress I am going to get some R & R today at my favorite nail salon then try to come back home and figure out the hair and make up situation for Friday.

Did I mention I have a 1 year old son and husband that works in Chatsworth (meaning he cant help much either)? no nanny, no close family to watch my son, Nada. Now you tell me, wouldn't you be stressed out?

more updates tonight .....or tomorrow.

dress design progress pt. 2

Since I'm working on fabric and color pallet's with my own dress line right now I have a couple of options to work with.

The next thing I like to do after I sketch something up is play with my fabrics and see how they react on my bodice. If they fall the way I want them to fall and move how I want them to move I start draping and cutting.

After I get the basic shape of what I want out of the fabrics its time to move everything onto my cutting table to clean up the lines. I decided to use a black and pink fabric for this dress and cut along the grain line this time. No bias cutting for this dress since I only have about 6 yards to work with.

Here is a picture of where I am at in the progress.

Unfortunately, sometimes there are unforeseen things that happen.

When I took a picture with flash of my dress I realized it had waaaay more shine than I wanted it to have. This is quite the pickle I am in right now and I have a big decision to make as I move forward from here.

Its either I start all over with a different type of fabric, Or I keep trying to add ruffles all the way up in an effort to detour the light in different directions instead of straight down my skirt.

Another problem I have is that all the other fabrics I'm working with right now are way to casual for this type of event! .....I'm so stressed out because Its not like I live down the street from the Los Angeles fabric district! I live all the way in Oxnard!!!!

Check back soon Ill be stressing out and trying to move forward while blogging about it at the same time :-\

<3 Joanak. <3

Time to do what I came here to do!

I am soooooo excited to be invited by editor to the Sue Wong fashion show and Gower studios for fashion weekend. March 16th 2012.

"sex in the city" moments, here I come!!!

As a designer I think no regular store bought dress will do. So ill be posting to let you readers know how I'm moving along in my dress design progress.

The first thing I like to do is sit and think of what the events will be like so that I can sketch up something that I think will be appropriate for the event and show my passion for designing as well.

Here are some sketches I am working on at the moment.  I think since this will be an all day kind of thing I need something that will work work well for day and night.

For more on my progress check back soon ill be posting all week as the day of our event comes closer.

<3 Joanak. <3

Hello 805!

So many things come to mind when I get asked

"Who is your favorite designer?"

and

"What is your favorite look this season?"

I can't ever answer quickly because when the question is asked I immediately float away into my own mind full of beautiful fashion. I definitely try my hardest to stay up to date on whats going on in the fashion world and I'll always have my favorite designers. When those questions are asked the thing that shocks me the most is that someone is actually interested in hearing me out.

One important fact about me is I attended a fashion design school. My opinions will always be more critical than anyone really wants to hear. To have this new position as a fashion writer for Society805 is to give my thoughts and opinions a voice. I am ecstatic to be on board and to have this be my new creative outlet. I hope that all of you readers out there share my passion and like my posts.

<3 :) <3
Joana k.